Severus' Heart
by PrincessSelphie
Summary: severus snape gets a valentine but is it a joke or real? **complete**(warning - soppy)
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this fic belong to me except Celeste who is my own creation. J.K.Rowling and all the privileged people who produce the books have full rights to the Harry potter series etc.

Note: This is my first fic and is likely to get a bit soppy. This is a low rating story but my next one should be steamier. Please bear with me, as I won't be too good with the characters yet. Any praise would be very nice!!! : ) But if you want to be nasty just don't bother please.  
I realize I have spelt Severus' name wrong quite often - SORRY!!

**************************************************************************

" Love makes all hard hearts gentle" - George Herbert

***************************************************************************

Serverus' heart

Chapter 1: Valentines Day

If Professor Lockhart had ever done anything for the school it was this. Ever since he'd held a Valentines Day celebration the tradition had continued in the school - much to the delight of some, and the disgust of others.

It was February once more at Hogwarts, and the students were beginning to think, with racing hearts, of valentine's cards to be sent and flowering spells to learn. If an observer with the same sort of talent of professor trelawny _claimed_ to have had walked through the school they might have heard some interesting thoughts.

In the gryffindor common room a boy with dark hair and glasses was inscribing a card lovingly " dear Cho..."

In the courtyard a blond smug looking boy was laughing cruelly as he addressed a card with mock passion " oh Harry I've always loved you so! Say you'll marry me, love Colin.". His thickset companions laughed too and they walked away...

And in the great hall ribbons and bows littered the tables, roses floated gently overhead, and muggle love songs played. Watching the soft lights of the fairies who were floating around the hall was a girl wearing dress robes of the most beautiful silver. Her dark hair was bound up in soft curls by velvet blue ribbons. Her name was Celeste, a ravenclaw 7th year, and she had a secret.

She sighed with half pain, half delight as she gazed up at the peach sky-roof of the hall, watching the sun set with a last few glowing rays. Valentines Day. The day when secret crushes, harbored long, would be revealed if only in the form of red and pink cards, signed "?".

And she, of course, had a secret of her own. A tall, dark and commanding secret. Namely one professor Serverus Snape.

Could she help that from the moment she first entered that dungeon she was smitten? How could she not have stood in shock when that dark robed figure swept into the room? For after all, he was the man of her dreams...literally.

Ever since Celeste was young she had dreamed a strange fantasy of a dark robed man with long black hair who came striding towards her whenever she was in peril, and saved her. She could have a normal nightmare, of snakes or monsters or wolves and her hero would always arrive at the moment when she was most alone, most afraid. He would hold her and open his mouth to speak...and the dream would end. She came to accept this as the ways things were, just something deep in her mind.

But the jigsaw had never been complete until she'd entered her first potions class, and heard Professor Snape speak. She had loved him then, and never looked back.

At first, as an adoring first year she had been content to watch, to listen, to wait. But now, in her last year at Hogwarts it was time to act, or always wonder. Time to show that aloof and lonely professor that he was not unlovable as he seemed to think. She could tell there was something bitter in his past, something that stopped him getting close to anyone. How could a man live, with no friends, no wife, no one?

So she'd sent the card. It was enchanted of course, made out of a mist so that the jewel drops of water vapor formed a heart punctured by a tiny silver arrow. It was with reason that she had picked it...for Snape needed only to wave a hand through it to dispel the mist. She would not allow him to be embarrassed. It would return to a small silver ball, tiny as a snitch, and appear only when he squeezed it.

She hoped she had chosen the right words. She had lovingly chosen them: " You think that no-one cares. I do. You think that no-one loves you. Well I do. Now you know it, you can chose to ignore this love, or take it, but whatever you do it will not go away. All my heart x ".

She would now have to wait, and watch.

As the students and teachers filed into the hall they gazed with longing or suspicion at the high windows where the owls would enter (the idea of musical dwarves has been one of Lockheart's ideas, hastily discarded.) who would bring the cards and packages.

Many of the students looked sick with worry, anticipating the response to their messages of affection. Hoping no-one would know it was them...Ginny Weasley looked particularly frantic and kept glancing at Harry, who was watching Cho Chang...who Celeste noticed unhappily was on the verge of tears. Cho was Celeste's' very best friend at Hogwarts, and Celeste knew how much Cho still missed Cedric, her boyfriend who had passed away a few years ago.

They all sat, nervously, as Dumbledore began to speak.

"My dear children" he announced happily, "Today is Valentines Day! I know you will all have fun!" mixed groans and cheers at this. "However.." he stared at them seriously "any prank cards sent that are not light hearted and that upset anyone will be identified with a tracing spell and the author will be punished." The hall fell silent in respect. Only Draco Malfoy sneered. "Hope Harry loves my card then..." he said to sniggers from the Slytherin table.

" Now the moment you have waited for...bring in the cards!" cried Dumbledore with the twinkle back in his eyes. He threw up his hands and a hoard of owls cascaded into the hall through the window and swept through the hall. Neville had dyed his new owl pink to match the occasion and it wasn't happy. It swooped at Hermione Granger dropping the present with a smash and swept off again. Hermione calmly mended the parcel before looking inside....

All around people were being buried by pink and red envelopes. Celeste has a few, but she recognized the handwriting of boys she knew on them. She had really wished for a special card from a special someone. She gazed at the staff table to watch the object of her affections flinch as her won snowy white owl bore down on him... and drop the little silver ball onto his lap. A small piece of light blue note paper drifted lazily after it.

Snape scooped up the paper. "Squeeze me." it read. Ah.... Well...thought Snape at a loss. Does it mean the ball or the girl who sent it? His face darkened. What girl? These were the doings of Potter and Weasley if ever he saw them. The ball would probably erupt in itching powder in a minute...no...He'd destroy it. Safer that way, especially if it was real after all.

No real valentine would ever come for Serverus Snape though, he was sure. No one would like him that way because he was cold and mean and ruthless. He knew he was. It was a good front to put up and hide behind. It would ensure that no one would ever feel that way about him. It would have to be...destiny, or something, to get past these defenses! He'd been so careful to be nasty enough because if he ever loved a girl and she loved him back then his secret would have to come between them and it could never really be.

" It's a love globe, Serverus" the voice made him jump.

It was dumbledore, smiling good humouredly at him as if he'd read his thoughts " it won't explode. You can squeeze it" and to demonstrate, he did.

The glistening mist spiraled into the air, glowing in the shape of a card with a heart in the center. It swung open gently to reveal the silvery message. "Ignore it or take it?" he murmured, reading in spite of himself. It hardly sounded like a joke. He wished... he wished...but how could the students be so cruel?! Couldn't they see that he, Serverus Snape, had never ever been loved? Why could a joker touch his most private thoughts? " You think no-one loves you.." it was too hard to bear.

He swept his hand through the mist and it disappeared. " If you were a real love..." he murmured unhappily " I'd want you, and I still couldn't have you, even then. So where's the use in wondering?" and he got up from the table and swept from the room.

Celeste watched. He'd seemed annoyed, a scared expression fleeting across his face once. And yet...and yet before he'd left he'd bent down, picked up the ball, and pocketed it.

*************************************************************


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this fic belong to me except Celeste who is my own creation. J.K.Rowling and all the privileged people who produce the books have full rights to the Harry potter series etc.

Note: This is my first fic and is likely to get a bit soppy. This is a low rating story but my next one should be steamier. Please bear with me, as I won't be too good with the characters yet. Any praise would be very nice!!! : ) But if you want to be nasty just don't bother please.

This is chapter two, hope you old romantics out there liked no.1 enough to read this one too.

******************************************************************************

"Love is a wizard...it intoxicates...it beautifies everything around it" -Leos Janacek

***********************************************************

Chapter 2: Alone with you

It was in potions the next day that the trouble _really_ started. Snape had spent a sleepless night thinking about the card and he was angry. It must have been those boys, he was sure...his mood wasn't improved much by the arrival of Celeste Moonstone ten minutes late to his lesson.

"Where have you been Miss Moonstone?" he asked in his most deadly silky voice.

Celeste could have been truthful...she could have said that she'd spent the last ten minutes hiding in moaning myrtle's bathroom. Myrtle had been in a deliriously happy mood. Someone had sent her a ghostly valentine. Nearly headless Nick was suspected but no one could prove a thing. And the reason she's been hiding? In order to get detention of course! Because Celeste had been thinking too, and she had decided that Snape was a mere mortal man, and she would have to give up on ever wanting to win his love... but catching his eye and making him want her...that was another matter. If she could get him to desire her then that was better to settle for... but hard since she unfortunately loved him.

" Ummm..." Celeste played ignorance.

"Detention at 7 o clock" Snape sneered " For daring..." he broke off, distracted by a potion that had just turned blue and started fizzing, and Celeste scuttled to a seat, trying not to smile too much. Cho motioned her over to the stool next to her.

" You are so see through" she smiled. Cho knew all about Celeste's' secret, as the girls were such good friends. After cedrics death they had spent hours together, talking about their feelings.

"I know" Celeste rolled her eyes " but hot stuff himself seems oblivious." then she noticed that Cho was looking a lot happier than usual. " What are you hiding Cho?" she asked the girl, who grinned at her impishly

"Well I did get a card..." she smiled "from a certain Mr. Potter!"

"He didn't sign it did he??!" cried Celeste, a little too loudly. Snape glared from across the room and she lowered her voice " come on, spill!"

Cho blushed a little " he didn't sign, but I could tell. I'll ask him out next week I think.." she said, avoiding her friends eyes. Celeste knew better than to comment. If Cho was moving on then that was wonderful...they would all remember cedric but Cho had to live...

And I need to live too, she thought. I can't wait forever for a love that'll never come, but I can tempt him....

As the bell rang she left the classroom with one backward glance, an appeal for love to a back that was turned, and unknowing.

****************************************

Snape was sitting in his dungeon office and he was thinking. The card floated transparently before him, and he looked through it, to something beyond. He remembered a day seven years ago...a day he had often wondered about.

He'd walked into his classroom to teach some new first years and there she had been, a girl with the biggest green eyes he had ever seen.....! And she was looking at him. He stopped, surprised, and she looked just as shocked. She was so young...! When his heart had stirred within him he'd backed away in horror. "Don't start now!" he thought wildly. "Don't wake up for some girl that's barely out of childhood and into her teens!" but there had been noting to fear because then he'd realized that she would never think of him that way...so he was safe. Except those times when he saw her watching him gently as if she...enough! Enough remembering a face that he had always tried to forget! But she had been watching him that day...when he'd seen the card and read it, she'd looked hopeful!

He got up. "This wont go anywhere" he warned himself " but if it was her that sent it..." and he pulled open the door to head for detention.

When he arrived, she was there. Eyes as green as ever and soft for a moment when she saw him. He ignored it, gave a half snarl " Now Miss Moonstone you will complete this assignment for Me." and he handed her a large tome on underwater ingredients for potions.

She worked steadily; mindful of his presence but he was far away again, a sad look on his face.

" Maybe I should have said something the moment I saw her..." he thought " but it was hardly the right moment to tell her that she was the girl I'd seen in my dreams for the past 11 years," he sighed, then realized " ever since she was _born_!" he murmured.

"Professor?" she spoke shyly

"What?" his voice was sharp, and she flinched.

" I just.. You said something just now." she half smiled at him timidly.

Snape hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud. He flushed and looked away. " I was contemplating a... trick card I was sent yesterday." he replied, and immediately cursed himself. Why had he told her?

" Are you sure it was..um..a trick sir?" she asked

" Yes..." he began, and noticed a strange look on her face " what do you know that I don't?" He asked. Suspiciously

She looked at her watch, avoiding the question, " my detention is over, sir," she said and Snape glowered. She was so unhappy to be in his presence?! " Go" he said coldly and turned his back. He expected her to be gone when he turned around again, but she wasn't. She was standing looking at him with a tear running down her cheek. " This is going to be harder than I thought.." she whispered to herself, and ran out. Snape stood still, puzzled and angry with himself. How had he hurt her? And what on earth had she meant? What was hard.. and why?

********************************************

Celeste sat on her bed, took out a quill and began to write....

" I have always loved you." he scribed " Since I first saw you. I know that it's hard for you, to let people in. I don't know why but I hope you'll tell me some day soon. I've watched you for years, knowing I was too young but now it seems that the time has come. Next year I will leave Hogwarts and I don't want to leave without you knowing, so you can chose. You can chose to love me or to hate me but I want you to know that I will always love you. Stop being afraid of my love and meet me tomorrow night at midnight in the great hall. If you don't go then you will never know who I am or have the chance to chose. Love x "

Then she walked through the silent school to an office she knew and loved, and pushed the letter under the door. She tiptoed away, knowing she's done the right thing. She had seen today that there was no chance of her simply playing with his desire. She needed his love, or nothing.

That night she dreamed a dream that wasn't familiar...at first.

Wolves chased her in the night, she ran into the woods but an alligator poised in front of her opened it's mouth wide, she turned and ran a different path. They all chased her...chased her into the arms of a man. Snape. She shook in his grasp with tears, and he held her very close, tenderly...he opened his mouth, and spoke.

When Celeste awoke she knew everything would be all right because Snape had spoken for the first time ever in her dream. And his words had been " I love you."

***********************************************************************


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this fic belong to me except Celeste who is my own creation. J.K.Rowling and all the privileged people who produce the books have full rights to the Harry potter series etc.

Note: This is my first fic and is likely to get a bit soppy. This is a low rating story but my next one should be steamier. Please bear with me, as I won't be too good with the characters yet. Any praise would be very nice!!! : ) But if you want to be nasty just don't bother please. This is the third chapter. And the last! Enjoy! ^_^

**************************************************************************************

"I have drunk the wine of life at last, I have known the best worth knowing, I have been warmed through and through, never to grow quite cold again till the end."

- Edith Wharton

*****************************************************************

Chapter 3: Midnight heroics

Snape stared at the letter and blinked. Right, um...what to do? He tried to wake up a little, he shook his head. Who could it be from? A joke? His former scepticism seemed to have faded somewhat. He was ready to trust.

"Whatever happens" he thought " I can't really lose. If it's anyone but Celeste - which I can't even dare to hope it would be - I can just say no, kindly." The answer seemed too simple but he knew it was more complex than that. Even if it was Celeste...he stirred remembering his dream...even if it was her then he couldn't be with her. He knew that because the risk was too high.... Because of what he would be doing in a few months time...he shuddered to think of it.

"I'll go" he said to the shadows in his office " But If it is her I'll have to explain why it cant be...and if it's not then I'll have to say no." decided at last, he went off to the dungeon to begin that days lesson.

Celeste was stirring from her own sleep. She was remembering the dream, and the way she had woken half way through the night with the conviction that things were going to be okay now. She still felt warmed by it. Tonight, she was sure, things were going to go right for once. Then maybe professor Snape, her Serverus, would hold her, and love her...she set off for the days schooling with a bounce.

Potions was the hardest lesson that day. She stared at Snape, and Snape stared at her and they kept looking away, each sure and yet not sure enough to smile, only stare stare stare.... She watched his lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss them, to be in those strong arms...

They both felt the evening would never come, but come it did....

Celeste set off form her room, scared right down to her core. What if he said no? What if he looked at her in disgust and walked away? She almost didn't go, but then she imagined Snapes heart broken face, knowing that no one loved him after all...that it had all been a cruel prank. She could never have him think that, and think it he would, if she didn't turn up. So she walked, soft feet on the floor. She was being very quiet, but she didn't hear the whispering until she turned the corner, and it was too late.

Draco Malfoy was walking along the corridor, carrying a host of stolen goods. Crabbe and Goyle were following, with similar booty. " Genius of you Crabbe" Malfoy was drawling " to get the hufflepuff password so we could nick all this stuff" Then he saw Celeste and froze.

Even though Celeste was a year older she knew she wouldn't be a match for the 3 of them. They pulled out their wands and blasted her back into a cupboard where she lay in a heap, groaning. The thugs locked the door, and chuckling about the memory charms they would perform on her later, they moved away.

Meanwhile Snape was stalking his way through the corridors to the hall. He, too, almost hadn't gone. Where was the use, they could never be together anyway? And yet thinking of his Celeste, a tear on her face...so he'd summoned the courage and left his office.

As he approached the great hall he walked to the front, hoping to see her face.... there was no one. Disappointment, rage, sorrow, all threatened to rip him apart but he tried to stay calm.

"Probably just a little late" he said to himself, and sat down to wait.

He waited, and waited, and an hour later, he let his feelings loose, unable to bear the fact that he'd been tricked, that no one had ever loved him, he allowed the tears to come. It'd all been a cruel joke...he no longer minded what he'd have to do next month. Nothing in the world could compare to this...to this agony. The agony of a lonely teacher, who had dared to hope! Had the person who sent the letter known how much they would hurt him by not turning up? Hadn't they understood how lonely and desperate he was feeling? He let out a cry of self-pity and anger.

His cry woke Celeste, and she knew what it was. She knew she had failed him, and she began to sob in her lonely cupboard, in the dark.

Snape left the hall numbly he was calmer now...maybe the person who wanted to meet him hadn't been able to...but he hardly cared now. Now he felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing...except a little whimper, a cry in the passage! He turned this way and that, confused, until he saw the closet. He opened the door with his wand, and peered inside.

In the dark, huddled, was a shaking girl. She looked up at him with those big green eyes. Celeste. There were tears in them, he saw. There was nothing for it, then, but to take her in his arms and whisper " I love you"

************************************************

When Celeste woke the first time Snape was looking at her, gently. She seemed to be in the hospital wing. " Don't worry, just concussion" he said softly.

She nodded; not daring to ask if what he has said the night before was true.

"Yes." he said for her. "Yes it's true." and she realized he was holding her hand.

"Me too" she said, before sleep took her again.

The next time she woke, he wasn't at her side, but he wasn't far off, because she could hear his voice.

" So really headmaster, Malfoy should be expelled."

" I quite agree," said dumbledores voice, sounding concerned. It was strange, she reflected, to hear Snape saying his old favourite should be expelled.

"I was wondering, headmaster, if the school would mind if I..."

" Married miss moonstone? Not at all. But you had better check with her first!" he laughed

Snape seemed to pause " the trouble is..." he said, sounding depressed, " that next month I am to go and spy on Voldermort for you...and now it wouldn't be fair to promise to be this young girls future and leave her a widow at17!"

" Is that what's held you back from loving so long, Serverus?" asked dumbledore kindly

"Well yes!" Snape sighed " if I ever got attached I knew that I would probably die when Voldermort returned and leave my wife alone in the world. I was very careful to make sure no-one would ever love me...but Celeste did anyway...." he laughed, bitterly.

Dumbledore must have been regarding him sadly because there was a pause and when dumbledore spoke his voice was full of admiration " you held back on your own happiness for years so you would never hurt the one who loved you. But you, a potions master, have forgotten one thing."

"What's that?" Serverus sounded confused.

"Polyjuice potion" his voice was happy " I have an old friend who has no-one left in the world and it's all Voldermort fault that he's alone. He had had a long life and now he doesn't mind if it ends so long as he helps us bring down the dark lord. He asked me not long ago if he could take your place, looking like you."

The solution seemed simple...but Serverus' voice was bitter "If I did that I'd be a coward, how could she ever love a coward?"

Celeste got to her feet, and pushed aside the curtain to face them.

" Don't you remember" she asked softly " a hero who always saves me at the most crucial point? What would I do if that hero went away and didn't look after me anymore?" she looked at him calmly " I know it's selfish, but if there's someone who wants to take you place, then let him, Serverus, because I need you even more than the world does."

Snape looked at her, then at Dumbledore, and then at his own two feet, and when he looked up, he knew she was right.

*********************************************

Epilogue:

It was a beautiful spring day, not more than a month later, that they stood on the lost island. It was a lovely scene, the old meadow filled with people they both knew, the flowers blooming, and the blue skies overhead. A lovely day, and a beautiful feeling... but not, thought Serverus, half as lovely as the woman by his side.

She wore the palest of ivory dresses, and her black silky hair flew in the wind. She was clutching poppies to her chest and her emerald eyes were on him. As the lace of her dress fluttered and the haunting music played he watched her, and she watched him.

No one had objected not even her parents. They seemed to know that it was fate - but maybe that was because they had listened many times to a five-year-olds nightmare retold in tears, and knew by heart the tall dark man in them.

Everyone they cared about was there, and they had flown in on a white horse, with silvery wings. The day was perfect... there was only one thing left to do.

He turned to his bride, listening for the priest's words. When the time came he said what he had always meant to.... " I do."

She smiled radiantly as he spoke and when the time came for her to echo them, she did. With the diamonds on her finger she felt whole at long long last. Serverus was watching her intently as the words came " you may now kiss the bride" he saw then, that what she really wanted, more than anything, was to be kissed, by a lonely old potions master, made whole by a sweet green eyed girl.

"Kiss me" she whispered, smiling

So he did.

The end/beginning

**************************************************

Please everyone who reads tell me what they thought I know it's soppy but that's just me! Please don't review

If you are going to be nasty.

walked into his classroom to teach some new first years and there she had been, a girl with the biggest green eyes he had ever seen.....! And she was looking at him. He stopped, surprised, and she looked just as shocked. She was so young...! When his heart had stirred within him he'd backed away in horror. "Don't start now!" he thought wildly. "Don't wake up for some girl that's barely out of childhood and into her teens!" but there had been noting to fear because then he'd realized that she would never think of him that way...so he was safe. Except those times when he saw her watching him gently as if she...enough! Enough remembering a face that he had always tried to forget! But she had been watching him that day...when he'd seen the card and read it, she'd looked hopeful!

He got up. "This wont go anywhere" he warned himself " but if it was her that sent it..." and he pulled open the door to head for detention.

When he arrived, she was there. Eyes as green as ever and soft for a moment when she saw him. He ignored it, gave a half snarl " Now Miss Moonstone you will complete this assignment for Me." and he handed her a large tome on underwater ingredients for potions.

She worked steadily; mindful of his presence but he was far away again, a sad look on his face.

" Maybe I should have said something the moment I saw her..." he thought " but it was hardly the right moment to tell her that she was the girl I'd seen in my dreams for the past 11 years," he sighed, then realized " ever since she was _born_!" he murmured.

"Professor?" she spoke shyly

"What?" his voice was sharp, and she flinched.

" I just.. You said something just now." she half smiled at him timidly.

Snape hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud. He flushed and looked away. " I was contemplating a... trick card I was sent yesterday." he replied, and immediately cursed himself. Why had he told her?

" Are you sure it was..um..a trick sir?" she asked

" Yes..." he began, and noticed a strange look on her face " what do you know that I don't?" He asked. Suspiciously

She looked at her watch, avoiding the question, " my detention is over, sir," she said and Snape glowered. She was so unhappy to be in his presence?! " Go" he said coldly and turned his back. He expected her to be gone when he turned around again, but she wasn't. She was standing looking at him with a tear running down her cheek. " This is going to be harder than I thought.." she whispered to herself, and ran out. Snape stood still, puzzled and angry with himself. How had he hurt her? And what on earth had she meant? What was hard.. and why?

********************************************

Celeste sat on her bed, took out a quill and began to write....

" I have always loved you." he scribed " Since I first saw you. I know that it's hard for you, to let people in. I don't know why but I hope you'll tell me some day soon. I've watched you for years, knowing I was too young but now it seems that the time has come. Next year I will leave Hogwarts and I don't want to leave without you knowing, so you can chose. You can chose to love me or to hate me but I want you to know that I will always love you. Stop being afraid of my love and meet me tomorrow night at midnight in the great hall. If you don't go then you will never know who I am or have the chance to chose. Love x "

Then she walked through the silent school to an office she knew and loved, and pushed the letter under the door. She tiptoed away, knowing she's done the right thing. She had seen today that there was no chance of her simply playing with his desire. She needed his love, or nothing.

That night she dreamed a dream that wasn't familiar...at first.

Wolves chased her in the night, she ran into the woods but an alligator poised in front of her opened it's mouth wide, she turned and ran a different path. They all chased her...chased her into the arms of a man. Snape. She shook in his grasp with tears, and he held her very close, tenderly...he opened his mouth, and spoke.

When Celeste awoke she knew everything would be all right because Snape had spoken for the first time ever in her dream. And his words had been " I love you."

***********************************************************************


End file.
